July 11, 2024 • 9 mins
Some curiosities of the past brought delight, while others delivered pain. Both are part of our tour today.
Pre-order the official Cabinet of Curiosities book by clicking here today, and get ready to enjoy some curious reading this November!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
of these amazing tales are right there on display, just
waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
(00:36):
A trip to a major theme park is a time
honored tradition enjoyed by families all over the world. Whether
it's Disneyland, The Magic Kingdom or Universal Studios, vacationer's waits
in excruciating lines and shell out wads of cash to
visit resorts filled with talking animatronics, light shows and themed rides.
But there's one place that you may not have heard
(00:57):
of that offered a bit of a twist on that formula.
Closed now, but in its day it was unparalleled in
the world of amusement parks. Located near the village of
Hesden in northern France, it was once home to a
breathtaking collection of animatronic prank machines worthy of Home Alones
Kevin McAllister. Unlike the booby traps from that movie, these
machines were not intended to maim or injure intruders, but
(01:20):
to shock, startle, and delight the estate's guests. They still
came at you pretty hard, though. Pipes in the floors
would spurt visitors with jets of water from below, while
opening the wrong book could get you a face full
of flour or soot. One animatronic statue instructed you to
rush to the next room. If you did as you
were told, you encountered a large machine that would start
(01:40):
beating you with sticks. There was also larger walkthrough experiences,
similar to the ones that you might find today around
these Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland. The largest one was
the Chamber of the Golden Fleece, a room with elaborate
frescoes depicting the myth of Jason and the Argonauts. A
wooden hermit statue near the front recited parts of the
story to you, and as you came to the end,
(02:02):
a trapdoor opened in the ceiling, pelting you with snow
and rain to mimic a thunderstorm. But things weren't much
safer once you got outside the main building. The sprawling
grounds were crafted to look like natural woodlands and marshes
similar to the way that Disneyland approximates wilderness in its
Jungle cruise areas, live deer ran through the trees and
(02:23):
fish swam in the ponds. There were plenty of animatronic
delights there too, though, like mechanized fountains, trees full of
robotic birds, and a bridge guarded by mechanical monkeys with
badger pelts for skin. However, the wolf that prowled the
grounds was very, very real and not remotely tame. It
doesn't seem like any attempt was made to keep it
(02:44):
locked up, even after the neighbors complained that it was
killing their livestock. The wolf was simply outfitted with a
collar of bells so that people would know when it
was headed their way. Now, you might be wondering why
guests would visit such a park, considering the dangers and
flat out annoyances they faced at Hesden. Part of the
draw may have been the exclusivity. Hesden didn't sell tickets
(03:05):
or allow the public to enter. Anyone who stepped inside
was a personal guest of the estate's owner. Mainly, though,
people came to Hesden because you couldn't experience its delights
or surprises anywhere else. There was no Disneyland or Universal Studios.
In fact, neither park would open for well over six
hundred years. But just like the Wolf, Hesden's Castle was real.
(03:27):
Its founder, Count Robert the second of Artois, was a
lord who lived near the end of the thirteenth century.
His mechanical pranks, which he called engines of Amusement, were
inspired by a trip to Italy, where he likely encountered
advanced animatronics from the Middle East. We don't know what
inspired the count to turn his estate into such a
unique place, but his daughter continued to maintain and expand
(03:51):
it after his death. Unfortunately, the castle was destroyed in
fifteen fifty three, along with all the machines. Most of
what we know about Hesden comes from maps and receipts
for the payments to a fleet of engineers and metal
workers who built and maintained the animatronics. There are also
a few surviving accounts from visitors, like one bishop who
compared Hesdin to the Garden of Eden, and that's a
(04:14):
ringing endorsement from a medieval Catholic leader. He might as
well have called it the happiest place on Earth. Throughout history,
(04:35):
there have been many examples of people enduring pain for
the sake of physical appearance. Tattoos and piercings are two
of the most common examples, both of which can be
traced back to ancient civilizations. But unlike traditional body art,
some beauty practices cause people to go to extreme links.
One such practice originated in the mid nine hundreds AD
(04:56):
in an area of southern China. A girl named Yo
Nyang good in the wings of a small stage. Yao
was a servant to the Emperor Li Yu, and part
of her job was to entertain the emperor and his court.
No one in the audience knew that they were about
to see something unlike anything they had seen before. The flutes,
soft melody, and twinkling chimes cued Yoo's entry to the stage.
(05:18):
She walked slowly, careful not to fall, and when Yao
appeared on stage, the audience gasped. It wasn't her dress,
or her makeup, or even her dance moves that was
so captivating. It was her feet. Each one was bound
in white silk so tight they appeared like little crescent moons,
and everyone in the room thought that they looked beautiful
(05:39):
as a cherry on top. Yo delicately balanced on top
of a lotus shaped platform. Her performance cast a spell
on the whole room, and the emperor was mesmerized. Afterward,
Yao became one of the emperor's favorite servants. His other
servants wanted to make their feet look just like hers,
and soon the trend spread to the common people as well.
(06:00):
Lotus feet, as they became known, were a sign that
a woman did not have to do any physical labor
to support herself, and that her husband could support her instead.
This way of life was aspirational in Chinese society at
the time. Soon lotus feet became a sign of overall wealth.
A young woman looking for a husband would have better
prospects if her feet were fashioned this way. However, this
(06:22):
appearance was so in demand that at some point it
stopped being enough for women to wrap their feet so Instead,
before they even reached a marrying age, young girls underwent
a permanent, painful procedure. And this is what the procedure involved,
and it might be disturbing to hear, so please listen
with care. First, a girl's feet were soaked in hot water,
Then her toenails were clipped short, her toes were massaged
(06:45):
with oil and then broken and bound against the soles.
And then finally her feet were folded in half and
wrapped in long silk or cotton strips. And this wasn't
a one time event. It could take months or even
years for someone's feet to permanently hold this shape. Many
of the steps were repeated to ensure the arches stayed
bent in half. Often those undergoing this process were required
(07:07):
to walk long distances to force their arches into this shape.
In the end, bound feet were only about three or
four inches long. As you can imagine, this effectively disabled
girls and women. They lost the ability to move around
freely and independently. But bound feet were so in fashion
that it didn't seem to matter. Not only that, some
(07:28):
young men's parents wouldn't allow them to marry a woman
whose feet weren't bound, so a woman's future often depended
on it. Therefore, the practice continued for centuries. At some
point in the nineteenth century, people started to acknowledge the
true perils of footbinding more widely. It was bad enough
that women couldn't move around easily, but their feet were
(07:48):
also prone to infection, and their broken toes would heal,
but the bones would break more easily after that, and
the lack of balance caused women to fall and break
other bones as well. Never mind the fact that these
women often started this process when they were children, meaning
that they had no choice in the matter. This was
forced on them. They were powerless to stop it. In
(08:08):
eighteen eighty three, the first official anti footbinding society was founded.
From there, people urge their local governments to take action.
By nineteen twelve, the Chinese government had banned footbinding nationwide,
but many people still viewed lotus feet as a symbol
of beauty and continue the practice in secret. It has
taken decades, but thankfully the practice is almost entirely gone,
(08:31):
and it stands as a reminder that oftentimes beauty and
freedom do not go hand in hand, that beauty shouldn't
involve pain or suffering or abuse, and that when it
comes to freedom, sometimes popularity is the enemy. I hope
you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.
(08:54):
Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about
the show by visiting Curiosities Podcasts. The show was created
by me Aaron Manke in partnership with How Stuff Works.
I make another award winning show called Lore which is
a podcast, book series, and television show and you can
learn all about it over at the Worldoflore dot com.
(09:17):
And until next time, stay curious.
Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
of these amazing tales are right there on display, just
waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
(00:36):
A trip to a major theme park is a time
honored tradition enjoyed by families all over the world. Whether
it's Disneyland, The Magic Kingdom or Universal Studios, vacationer's waits
in excruciating lines and shell out wads of cash to
visit resorts filled with talking animatronics, light shows and themed rides.
But there's one place that you may not have heard
(00:57):
of that offered a bit of a twist on that formula.
Closed now, but in its day it was unparalleled in
the world of amusement parks. Located near the village of
Hesden in northern France, it was once home to a
breathtaking collection of animatronic prank machines worthy of Home Alones
Kevin McAllister. Unlike the booby traps from that movie, these
machines were not intended to maim or injure intruders, but
(01:20):
to shock, startle, and delight the estate's guests. They still
came at you pretty hard, though. Pipes in the floors
would spurt visitors with jets of water from below, while
opening the wrong book could get you a face full
of flour or soot. One animatronic statue instructed you to
rush to the next room. If you did as you
were told, you encountered a large machine that would start
(01:40):
beating you with sticks. There was also larger walkthrough experiences,
similar to the ones that you might find today around
these Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland. The largest one was
the Chamber of the Golden Fleece, a room with elaborate
frescoes depicting the myth of Jason and the Argonauts. A
wooden hermit statue near the front recited parts of the
story to you, and as you came to the end,
(02:02):
a trapdoor opened in the ceiling, pelting you with snow
and rain to mimic a thunderstorm. But things weren't much
safer once you got outside the main building. The sprawling
grounds were crafted to look like natural woodlands and marshes
similar to the way that Disneyland approximates wilderness in its
Jungle cruise areas, live deer ran through the trees and
(02:23):
fish swam in the ponds. There were plenty of animatronic
delights there too, though, like mechanized fountains, trees full of
robotic birds, and a bridge guarded by mechanical monkeys with
badger pelts for skin. However, the wolf that prowled the
grounds was very, very real and not remotely tame. It
doesn't seem like any attempt was made to keep it
(02:44):
locked up, even after the neighbors complained that it was
killing their livestock. The wolf was simply outfitted with a
collar of bells so that people would know when it
was headed their way. Now, you might be wondering why
guests would visit such a park, considering the dangers and
flat out annoyances they faced at Hesden. Part of the
draw may have been the exclusivity. Hesden didn't sell tickets
(03:05):
or allow the public to enter. Anyone who stepped inside
was a personal guest of the estate's owner. Mainly, though,
people came to Hesden because you couldn't experience its delights
or surprises anywhere else. There was no Disneyland or Universal Studios.
In fact, neither park would open for well over six
hundred years. But just like the Wolf, Hesden's Castle was real.
(03:27):
Its founder, Count Robert the second of Artois, was a
lord who lived near the end of the thirteenth century.
His mechanical pranks, which he called engines of Amusement, were
inspired by a trip to Italy, where he likely encountered
advanced animatronics from the Middle East. We don't know what
inspired the count to turn his estate into such a
unique place, but his daughter continued to maintain and expand
(03:51):
it after his death. Unfortunately, the castle was destroyed in
fifteen fifty three, along with all the machines. Most of
what we know about Hesden comes from maps and receipts
for the payments to a fleet of engineers and metal
workers who built and maintained the animatronics. There are also
a few surviving accounts from visitors, like one bishop who
compared Hesdin to the Garden of Eden, and that's a
(04:14):
ringing endorsement from a medieval Catholic leader. He might as
well have called it the happiest place on Earth. Throughout history,
(04:35):
there have been many examples of people enduring pain for
the sake of physical appearance. Tattoos and piercings are two
of the most common examples, both of which can be
traced back to ancient civilizations. But unlike traditional body art,
some beauty practices cause people to go to extreme links.
One such practice originated in the mid nine hundreds AD
(04:56):
in an area of southern China. A girl named Yo
Nyang good in the wings of a small stage. Yao
was a servant to the Emperor Li Yu, and part
of her job was to entertain the emperor and his court.
No one in the audience knew that they were about
to see something unlike anything they had seen before. The flutes,
soft melody, and twinkling chimes cued Yoo's entry to the stage.
(05:18):
She walked slowly, careful not to fall, and when Yao
appeared on stage, the audience gasped. It wasn't her dress,
or her makeup, or even her dance moves that was
so captivating. It was her feet. Each one was bound
in white silk so tight they appeared like little crescent moons,
and everyone in the room thought that they looked beautiful
(05:39):
as a cherry on top. Yo delicately balanced on top
of a lotus shaped platform. Her performance cast a spell
on the whole room, and the emperor was mesmerized. Afterward,
Yao became one of the emperor's favorite servants. His other
servants wanted to make their feet look just like hers,
and soon the trend spread to the common people as well.
(06:00):
Lotus feet, as they became known, were a sign that
a woman did not have to do any physical labor
to support herself, and that her husband could support her instead.
This way of life was aspirational in Chinese society at
the time. Soon lotus feet became a sign of overall wealth.
A young woman looking for a husband would have better
prospects if her feet were fashioned this way. However, this
(06:22):
appearance was so in demand that at some point it
stopped being enough for women to wrap their feet so Instead,
before they even reached a marrying age, young girls underwent
a permanent, painful procedure. And this is what the procedure involved,
and it might be disturbing to hear, so please listen
with care. First, a girl's feet were soaked in hot water,
Then her toenails were clipped short, her toes were massaged
(06:45):
with oil and then broken and bound against the soles.
And then finally her feet were folded in half and
wrapped in long silk or cotton strips. And this wasn't
a one time event. It could take months or even
years for someone's feet to permanently hold this shape. Many
of the steps were repeated to ensure the arches stayed
bent in half. Often those undergoing this process were required
(07:07):
to walk long distances to force their arches into this shape.
In the end, bound feet were only about three or
four inches long. As you can imagine, this effectively disabled
girls and women. They lost the ability to move around
freely and independently. But bound feet were so in fashion
that it didn't seem to matter. Not only that, some
(07:28):
young men's parents wouldn't allow them to marry a woman
whose feet weren't bound, so a woman's future often depended
on it. Therefore, the practice continued for centuries. At some
point in the nineteenth century, people started to acknowledge the
true perils of footbinding more widely. It was bad enough
that women couldn't move around easily, but their feet were
(07:48):
also prone to infection, and their broken toes would heal,
but the bones would break more easily after that, and
the lack of balance caused women to fall and break
other bones as well. Never mind the fact that these
women often started this process when they were children, meaning
that they had no choice in the matter. This was
forced on them. They were powerless to stop it. In
(08:08):
eighteen eighty three, the first official anti footbinding society was founded.
From there, people urge their local governments to take action.
By nineteen twelve, the Chinese government had banned footbinding nationwide,
but many people still viewed lotus feet as a symbol
of beauty and continue the practice in secret. It has
taken decades, but thankfully the practice is almost entirely gone,
(08:31):
and it stands as a reminder that oftentimes beauty and
freedom do not go hand in hand, that beauty shouldn't
involve pain or suffering or abuse, and that when it
comes to freedom, sometimes popularity is the enemy. I hope
you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.
(08:54):
Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about
the show by visiting Curiosities Podcasts. The show was created
by me Aaron Manke in partnership with How Stuff Works.
I make another award winning show called Lore which is
a podcast, book series, and television show and you can
learn all about it over at the Worldoflore dot com.
(09:17):
And until next time, stay curious.
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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